Unless you live under a sand dune on Mars or you have that Helen Keller disease, you probably are aware that Sony and Microsoft have both launched their next-gen consoles on Nov 15th (PS4) and Nov 22nd (Xbox One), respectively. Being a gamer requires that you also understand the finer things in life, like how to talk away that mustard stain on your hoodie as canvas paint or know how to camp out and prepare yourself for a midnight system launch. It’s been nearly seven years for Sony and over eight years for Microsoft, so to say these console launches aren’t as exciting as before is underwhelming. Attending the midnight launch of the PlayStation 4 at my local GameStop, there was so much excitement people could hardly contain themselves as we discussed past launches, the games we loved and why I was the only person at the launch who wasn’t actually buying a system (the latter fact is irrelevant guys, BECAUSE I SAY SO). I tried innumerably to convince my fellow gamers to all pool in their funds and buy me a console, but my desperation only compounded matters for the worse and did me no favorable service. My associate who worked at GameStop told me that I had ZERO chance to obtain a unit without first pre-ordering months a go, so I cried and screamed and begged like a child having a temper tantrum, only to be forcefully removed from the premises. “Act your age” everyone said…. “Nobody wants to see a big, fat almost-30 year old man child writhing on the floor in tears” they said… WELL SCREW YOU GUYS! OK, so maybe I embellished some of the above statements, and I didn’t actually get kicked out… I left of my own accord with dignity. I did return however with a bag full of chocolate because everyone knows gamers can’t resist big bags of snacks…. and was thus welcomed back to the launch party swiftly. “Chocolates for all” I declared! So as the night went on I snapped a few photos when I could and returned during the evening to my local Best Buy with my entourage in tow to play the PS4 demo kiosk and get some intimate, hands-on time with the console myself. Here’s what happened when trying to play first-party launch exclusive “KNACK”:

Unfortunately, we were shutdown and ejected by the evil Best Buy Dragon Queen because the legality of filming violates their PR policies. I couldn’t buy a PS4, I don’t know anyone that owns a unit who will let me rebox and unbox to have my own cool unboxing video then play it for hours while they sit and watch (apparently the only person I do know that owned one wanted to play it all for themselves launch day, go figure) so I did the next best thing: going to a business that owned one with my film crew and using their free generosity to mooch gaming playtime and record it. Can a broke, ambivalent man-child gamer really be blamed for such gratuitous behavior? For my complete “PS4: Gamer on the Ground” article, click on the following link or click on the tab of the same name under the Editorials tab:

The Last of Us Single Player DLC “Left Behind” announced, Ellie a returning character

I have advocated every chance that has come to pass for TLoU to be a Game of the Year frontrunner and with this next DLC pack, scheduled to be released early 2014 my contention only grows stronger. Naughty Dog has confirmed the single-player story DLC for “The Last of Us” will indeed see the return of Ellie as a playable character and in fact, be a prequel to the core games story. It will also introduce the character of Riley, one of Ellie’s best and only friends at the military orphanage where she was being schooled. If you’ve read the Dark House 4-part comic series “American Dreams” then you should have some idea of what to expect, although the DLC is not an exact recreation from the comics story and appears to take place after the events from the last comic and in-between the beginning of the main game. I implore you guys to read “American Dreams” because not only does it offer a great precursor to Ellie’s backstory, but it also serves as a companion piece to the game’s main narrative. Here’s the teaser trailer for the DLC, entitled “Left Behind“:

Bioshock: Infinite “Burial at Sea” pt. 1 released

Return to Rapture before it’s downfall and see it as in the utopia Andrew Ryan envisioned. Liz seeks out Bookers help as a Private Investigator in “Burial at Sea”.

The first part of a duo DLC single-player pack for Bioshock: Infinite was released on November 12th for a MSRP of $14.99, or if you have the Season Pass then it’s available digitally as a download now for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. “Burial at Sea” is a two-part adventure that returns the player to Rapture in it’s glory days before plasmids corrupted the loyal denizens into Splicers and all hell broke loose. Featuring some new weapons and a whole new story, you’ll play as private investigator Booker DeWitt hired by very more adult, demure persona of Elizabeth in the first part then take over and play as Elizabeth in the second part.

I was really disappointed with the story direction featured in Bioshock: Infinite’s single-player two part DLC “Burial at Sea” and although the concept and the return of Liz and Booker are certainly welcome, it seems so much more could’ve been explored within Infinite’s universe instead of returning to a glorified Rapture. Probably the most intriguing, albeit silent protagonist in a game this year was Infinite’s “Songbird“, the giant mechanical fowl that served as Elizabeth’s frightening ward in the main campaign. For all the lip-service Irrational paid to it’s newest terrifying creation (the collectors edition featured a 12-14” statue of the character and was aptly dubbed “Ultimate Songbird Edition“), Songbird was hardly featured in the core game and ultimately relegated to a minor supporting role. It seems their was so much back story for this character and situational set pieces that could’ve been crafted within a DLC campaign to give Songbird a more involved role. Am I the only one that feels this way? Comment below and speak your mind about what your ideal DLC scenario for Bioshock Infinite would’ve been.

Cosplayer Meagan Marie strikes a pose and brings her characters to life

Recently featured on Kotaku’s Fancy Pants (http://kotaku.com/5876329/the-very-best-of-meagan-maries-cosplay/), I knew she looked familiar. Sure enough, flipping through some of my past print editions of “Game Informer” I saw Meagan’s picture appear several times co-mingling with other GI editors, game developers and game industry folks. Not only is she a hell of a writer, but she can cosplay with the best of them. Take a look for your self:

Meagan portraying Anya from Gears of War, one of the few female gears that could take down herds of the locust with the boys

Meagan as Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated last queen of France and dare I say, one of the original “it-girls” before there even was a Hollywood.

If you want to see more of Meagan’s tireless effort to recreate our favorite fictional and non-fictional characters, then go to her website and admire her skill as only us gross, girlfriend-less gamers could; by showering her with lots of praise and stalking her. Just kidding Meagan, all my subjective comments come from a place of gamer love ❤

P.S.You’ve cosplayed titular gaming characters, historical and mythical figures and even sci-fi badasses. But their seems to be one missing from your resume that happens to be my all time favorite gaming character: Samus Aran. Yes, I know it’s been done but there are so many different ways to approach her. A strong female lead when console gaming was still in it’s infancy and female heroines were uncommon, most women in games were relegated to the “damsel in distress” cliches. Her revelation came as a pleasant surprise to most gamers who played through the original Metroid and were expecting anything but. One of the original Nintendo stalwart characters, Samus has always been my favorite and if Nintendo would release a new Metroid game where she resumes the role of the silent, lone-wolf character (no more talking please, Samus spoke enough in “Other M” to last the next three generations of Metroid games), I would instantly go out and buy a Nintendo console just to play it. Just a thought, or rant. Whatever.

It’s been a looong time coming but Irrational Games was adamant in their stance that the DLC would be out by late July and was not just hacked off content from the initial release but fully developed new content AFTER the games release for us fervent BS:I fans. True to form, the first DLC pack for Infinite entitled “Clash in the Clouds” has been released via Steam, XBL and PSN. For those who purchased the Season Pass during the games launch, the content will be waiting for you to download free of charge in your respective platforms network. If you did not purchase the Season Pass, the MSRP is around $4.99 and the DLC pack weighs in around 1.4 GB (for the PSN version, I cannot confirm if it’s the same for other platforms). Here’s the details about what to expect via this expansion pack from a quote via Polygon: (SOURCE)

The DLC includes four new maps, each with fifteen encounters and challenges, broken up by a visit to an armory of sorts where players can select their weapon load-out or use cash earned to power up their Booker.

The game rewards cash, which is also the player’s score, based on kills, combos and meeting specific, increasingly difficult challenges.

The end result, Dowling said, is a experience that pushes players to flip through weapons and vigors, pulling in tears and jumping on and off the Skyline to survive.

Here’s the trailer revealing the bullet points of all the new additions and features to “Clash in the Clouds” DLC:

“Clash in the Clouds” is the complete opposite of what most Infinite fans were expecting. Instead of a narrative, story-driven based experience, “Clash in the Clouds” does a complete 180 by making the games combat the central focus. While certainly not a bad thing, I found the combat in Infinite to be monotonous and repetitive, with the few breaks in redundancy being Liz’s dialog, Songbird scares and Skyhook ventures. Thankfully, “Clash in the Clouds” appears to focus more on the varied combat in Infinite rather than the standard “enter the arena, kill all the baddies and move on” regimen that was prevalent throughout most of Booker and Liz’s adventure. The DLC will revolve around the increased difficulty featured in the “1999 Mode” that could only be unlocked upon completion of the game. It will also feature significant challenges with the wide array of Infinite’s exceptionally designed characters, emphasizing challenges around using the Skyrails, vigors and defeating certain enemies using different combat techniques. The DLC pack rewards you with further audio diaries, game developer videos and some concept art. The next DLC pack, however, definitely seeds back to the games roots of coupling Booker and Liz together in narrative, story-driven gameplay. Read on below for more information regarding the next DLC pack for Bioshock: Infinite….

The Poster Art for Bioshock Infinite’s 2-part “Burial At Sea” Expansion Pack coming out soon at a MSRP of $14.99. Season Pass holders will obviously have instant access to the DLC pack via their respective platforms online storefronts.

Bioshock Infinte: Burial at Sea is a two-part DLC pack that invites players on a return trip to Rapture before Andrew Ryan’s Utopian-like Sea-scape fell and crumbled under it’s own ambitions

While we will have to wait for the more interesting expansion pack for Infinite, at least we now have details on what to expect.. “Burial at Sea” is a two-part tale of how the Columbia/Rapture parallel takes place and allows for you to explore the doomed underwater utopia as Booker DeWiit while it’s still a functional, beautiful city occupied by it’s faithful citizens before they go batshit crazy and turn into Splicers and Big Daddies. One of the most exciting concepts seems to be that you play as both Booker and Elizabeth, albeit a more grown-up adult version of Liz. Here’s the trailer courtesy of GameStop:

New game purchases and pre-orders to my already expansive and vast PlayStation 3 Collection of games

So during one of my last few posts I talked about the awesome PS3 exclusive “Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection” released on July 9th, which includes around 10 Metal Gear games from 1987 until 2012. For a price of $49.99, spanning content on TWO Blu-Ray discs and even including a very nice Metal Gear artwork book with the standard release, this collection is well worth the investment IF you can find it. My local GameStop sold out of MGS: Legacy Collection instantly and when they stocked more copies to be put on display for sale, those subsequently sold out just as fast. I eventually found my copy at Best Buy and picked it up immediately. I urge all Metal Gear and Hideo Kojima fans (the creater/writer of the Metal Gear franchise) to buy this game instantly if they find it, otherwise I guarantee it will sell before you have a chance to come back and get it. This is one of those rare titles that will be worth 2-3 times the original purchase price within 2 years because it had such a limited release.

For my birthday my best friend Jared also got me “Red Dead Redemption” GOTY Edition. I have seen this game being played by other friends of mine and know of its multiple accolades so it’s a worthy addition to my PS3 collection. And when Jared saw that this version included a “Zombie Mode”, he couldn’t resist. Thanks Jared! You and Mike are truly my BESTiES 4 LYFE luLzZzZ (<3333’s at retarded internet sentiments and acronyms).

For my Birfday, my best friend Jared purchased the GOTY Edition of Red Dead Redemption. Thanks goes to Jared for being an awesome friend and to Mike for being a great videogaming buddy! Look for a full review on HiddenDefinition of “Red Dead Redemption” soon.

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Digital Moonbase
Well thought-out articles with objective analysis comprising of every relevant facet in the gaming industry today, and it happens to be created and maintained by my best friend Mike. So go NOW!